The invention relates to an apparatus for controlling a projectile.
From DE-PS 33 17 583 such as apparatus with a nozzle arrangement in the projectile housing is known, the nozzle arrangement being supplied from a propellant source and comprising a thrust nozzle. The nozzle arrangement is supplied with a propellant continuously and is maintained in rapid rotation, also continuously. This rotation can be produced by the propellant itself. To eject the propellant jet in a defined direction crosswise to the projectile's axis, a brake is provided with which the continuous rotation of the nozzle arrangement can be stopped so that the thrust nozzle points in the desired direction.
The propellant jet issuing from the thrust nozzle is ejected through blow holes in the projectile housing. If the projectile is not to be controlled because it is in the correct trajectory, either the nozzle arrangement is maintained in fast rotation, so that the propellant jet issues in rapid succession through all blow holes on the circumference of the projectile and, accordingly, the transverse forces exerted on the projectile add up to zero, or the nozzle arrangement is rotated into a position in which the propellant jet does not issue from the projectile housing, but rather, the propellant is collected, for example, in an annular channel and is ejected from the projectile in such a way that no transverse forces act on the projectile. In this connection, it has heretofore been proposed to use these collected propellants to support the forward movement of the projectile. However, the driving force obtained thereby is very small, in particular for the reason that the propellant jet is to be deflected by considerable angles, so that the thrust is in large part lost due to friction forces.